


Claret Lily

by Bookwyrm20



Series: Soul Blossoms [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, F/F, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Multi, Past Abuse, Suicide Attempt, flower soulmate au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-18 14:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17582897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookwyrm20/pseuds/Bookwyrm20
Summary: Whenever your soulmate is hurt, a flower blooms on your body. James has been watching the garden on his body flourish, and wants to find his soulmate so that he may protect them from harm.This story doesn't get too in depth, but please read with caution if you have triggers





	Claret Lily

**Author's Note:**

> Petunia - physical abuse  
> Tansy - Burns  
> Wisteria - Cuts  
> Roses - Injured in combat  
> Lily - Depression

Ever since he was a kid, flowers had bloomed all over his body. Pale pink petunias with a darker center blooming and fading all over James’ torso and arms. They were often accompanied by yellow tansies, as bright as the fire they symbolized. Blooming over his heart was a claret color lily. James hated the way his body looked like a garden, because he knew his soulmate was covered in bruises and burn marks for every flower that appeared. Lines of wisteria began appearing on his stomach in bright purple when James turned fifteen, and he prayed that his soulmate could hold on until they found each other. Once he found his soulmate, James would not let another person harm him ever again.

The flowers started to fade quicker than they appeared when James entered Atlas Academy. The tansies stopped altogether, and the petunias marking abuse were replaced with roses for combat. James wondered if perhaps his soulmate was in his class at the academy, but the flowers never quite matched up with anyone else’s bruises. He was placed as leader for team JNGR (pronounced ginger) and was almost as happy as Glynda when they realized her roses matched with Naomi’s bruises after a rather exhausting Grimm fight.

The team was able to find its rhythm and they quickly climbed to one of the top most promising teams. As such, they were one of the teams chosen to represent Atlas Academy for the Vytal Festival in Vale. As soon as they landed, they were greeted by some of Beacon’s students. A small girl wearing a white cape bounded up to them, closely followed by a blonde boy wearing cargo shorts.

“Hello! Welcome to Beacon!” Her smile was almost blinding. “My name’s Summer, and this is Taiyang.”

“Tai is fine.” The blonde reached out a hand. James took it, returning the slight smile. “Back there is the rest of our team, Qrow and Raven Branwen.”

“Branwen?” Glynda narrowed her eyes. “Like the bandit tribe? Why are they in a school for huntsmen?”

A shadow passed over Tai and Summer’s faces, but it was gone before James could react. “Let’s say they wanted to get away from the family and leave it at that,” Summer stated. A weighted silence followed before Summer gave them another huge grin. “Come on! We’ll give you the grand tour.”

The group walked through the doors into Beacon proper and was joined by the Branwen twins. Raven stalked behind the group, silently watching as they went through Beacon. James felt like those shrewd eyes were plotting out his weaknesses. Qrow, on the other hand, was a bit more sociable. He didn’t stray far from Tai, and only made sarcastic comments, but at least he was talking. The two teams talked about the differences in the schools, what classes they were taking, what they hoped to accomplish after graduation, and soon enough the sun had set and they had to bid each other good night.

    James thanked Summer again for the tour. “It was wonderful spending time with you. You are competing in the festival, correct?” Summer nodded. “I wish you luck. It would be fun if we got to go head to head.”

    Qrow chuckled lightly. “Yeah, it’d be fun to pound your Atlesian faces into the ground.” James wasn’t sure whether or not he should be offended until he chuckled again. “See you around, Jimmy.”

    “It’s James,” he responded, reaching out a hand to shake. Qrow rolled his eyes but took the hand anyway. As he did, the sleeve of his shirt rode up to reveal a dark bruise just above his elbow. James couldn’t see all of it, but it seemed to be the shape of a hand. Qrow tensed, and he realized he was staring. Qrow ripped his hand away and stalked down the hall to his own room, slamming the door behind him.

    The bruise turned itself over and over in James’ mind as he prepared for bed. He was still awake as the soft sounds of his teammates sleeping filled the air, and he lifted his sleeve to look at his own arm. A large petunia with smaller blossoms extending out had formed just above his elbow.

\----------

 

Qrow mentally berated himself for the next few days about how careless he had been, and started wearing shirts with longer sleeves. Of course nearly everyone around him noticed and bombarded him with questions about how he was doing, did something happen, and if he was doing okay. He told Summer and Tai over and over that everything was fine, but it wasn’t until Raven assured them that they had stopped visiting the tribe that everyone backed off.

He unconsciously touched the handprint on his arm, a result of when he and Raven told his father that they were leaving the tribe. His father had become enraged and grabbed hold of him, but Raven easily knocked him out and portaled back to Beacon. Qrow had hoped the memory of his father would fade along with the bruise, but now the Atlas student, James, had seen it. Qrow avoided him, not wanting the questions and the pity. He had been through that with Summer and Tai, then again with Port and Oobleck. There was no point in going through it with someone who would leave after the festival and probably never think of Qrow again.

Unfortunately, because Summer and Tai were such nice people, avoiding James became difficult. Summer invited JNGR to eat with them, and they were currently making small talk over plates of gross cafeteria food.

“Wait, back up,” Summer was saying. “How did you two find out you were soulmates?”

Naomi laughed while Glynda tried to hide behind her hands. “I didn’t have the best aim with my telekinesis, and I may have hit her with a rock instead of our opponent,” Glynda muttered. Naomi laughed harder, barely getting the words out.

“She gave me the biggest black eye! It wasn’t until after the fight ended that James pointed out Glynda’s matching rose. Of course, I had to make sure, so I gave myself a tiny paper cut the next day. And boom! A tiny purple wisteria blossom formed on her!” The others burst out laughing, and even Raven was trying to hide a smile. “What about you guys, do you know who your soulmates are?”

Qrow shook his head. “I don’t but these three idiots do. Took us a while to realize what was happening, since they get double the amount of roses every time we get into a fight.” Summer was nodding along with his words.

“Yeah, Raven, Tai and I are all soulmates. Thank the gods for color coding, so if a flower blooms we know who it belongs to.” They continued chatting about soulmates. Qrow didn’t know who his was, and neither did James. The last person in team JNGR, Rogue, found his when he was five. It was his next door neighbor, and she was currently studying to be a doctor. The bell rang, cutting the conversation short. Qrow felt eyes on him as he walked out with Tai, and glanced behind to see James staring at him with a thoughtful frown on his face.

\---------

 

Finally, it was time for the tournament. Team STRQ and Team JNGR moved on to the doubles rounds, where it was decided that James and Glynda would face off against Qrow and Raven. James called out to them as the timer counted down.

“May the best hunters win.” He saw Qrow grin at his words, but it was Raven’s smile that chilled him. It was cold and predatory, and he knew he and Glynda wouldn’t win against the twins. But they would put up one hell of a fight.

The buzzer sounded and both sides leaped into action. Raven dashed in close to Glynda, making it harder for her telekinesis to remain effective. She was able to throw Raven into the tall grass, leaping after her to push her advantage. James was doing his best to dodge Qrow’s scythe, firing off shots when he saw the opportunity. Slowly but surely, he was able to weaken Qrow’s aura. He heard the buzzer and hoped it meant Glynda had gotten the upper-hand, but still doubted it. He saw Qrow’s eyes flick to the screen to see who had lost - only for a second, but it was enough. James fired a shot, and as Qrow tried to block it, the bullet exploded against his wrist and made him drop his scythe. James slammed his pistol into his temple, and Qrow crumpled to the ground.

He didn’t have time to celebrate as he was hit with electricity. He turned his head to see Raven holding a yellow dust blade. His aura flickered, on the verge of breaking. He raised his pistol only to be hit by another round of lightning, effectively pushing his aura past the breaking point. Team STRQ had won the doubles round.

\--------

 

Qrow groggily opened his eyes to see Summer and Tai sitting next to his bed, playing on their scrolls. The bright light stabbed through his skull, and he closed his eyes again with a groan. Summer finally realized he was awake.

“Qrow? How are you feeling?”

“Like a truck ran over my head.” He slowly shoved himself upright. Tai handed him a glass of water, which he drank greedily. “Did we win?”

Tai nodded. “Raven moved on. Her match should be finishing soon.” As if on cue, a portal opened into their room. Raven strode out, a smirk on her lips.

“That was much easier than it should have been.” The team continued chatting until someone came to get them for the awards ceremony. The bedroom felt empty with them gone, the silence too loud. Qrow let his mind drift, hand brushing over his temple. He should have been faster. He shouldn’t have dropped his scythe. Gods, he felt like a failure. He had let Raven down, let his whole team down. He was always the weak link, the first to go down in a fight. He should have been stronger.

Qrow stumbled into the bathroom, hands searching through the drawer. Raven thought she had found them all, but she hadn’t.

He hated his weakness. Raven was probably angry that he lost so easily, leaving her to do all the work. His father was right, he was worthless, a waste of space, bringing bad luck to everyone. He shouldn’t even exist.

\--------

 

James was trying not to suffocate in Naomi’s enthusiastic hug when Rogue pointed out the rose on his temple. Naomi stepped back to examine his face, commenting that it was a deep crimson.

“Almost like Branwen eyes, don’t you think, Glynda?” Glynda agreed. “Hey, you shot him in the wrist, right?” Naomi grabbed James’ hands and lifted them up, showing off the smattering of roses on his right wrist. “Oh my gods, we have to go find him!”

“Naomi, he’s resting. James hit him pretty hard over the head.” Glynda gently pried Naomi away from his hands. “Besides, soulmate revelation is not a ‘we’ thing. James should talk to him alone.” Naomi frowned at Glynda, but quickly perked up when she saw team STRQ (minus Qrow) approaching. Raven’s eyes went to the rose on his temple immediately, and she looked at him with a questioning gaze. He raised his wrist in affirmation, and was rewarded with a soft smile, very different from the one he saw before the battle. The group went to one of the food stands, slurping noodles while they recounted highlights from the fights. Glynda and Raven were talking about dust applications to different materials and weapons when Raven turned to ask James a question about his bullet rounds.

Her eyes widened in horror. He looked down at his arms to see dark red wisteria climbing up his arm from wrist to elbow. The wisteria then began to bloom on the other arm, twisting and twining a red line to match the other. Raven grabbed her sword and sliced it through the air, rushing through the portal along with Summer and Tai. James didn’t think to hesitate before plunging in after them.

The portal deposited them in a dorm room. By the time James got his bearings and realized it was STRQ’s room, Tai had kicked down the bathroom door and Raven had rushed off in search of Headmaster Ozpin. James moved closer. Summer held a needle, but her hands were too shaky to thread it. _They’ve done this before,_ James thought. Tai sat with his back to James, holding Qrow’s head in his lap. Slivers of red peered up at James before shutting.

He sat next to Summer and gently took the needle and thread. Atlas Academy was joined with the military, and all students were required to learn emergency first aid. The training allowed James to stop focusing on who it was laid out before him and work on stitching up his arms. The wisteria on his arms changed from red to pink as he worked. By the time he was done, Qrow had become very still.

Then someone with silver hair and a green suit was lifting Qrow into his arms. Then he was gone, leaving the four students kneeling in a pool of blood.

\----------

 

    Despite Summer’s insistence, James wasn’t sure he should be going with them to visit Qrow. Tension lined his shoulders as the group walked through the hospital doors and given visitors passes. Finally, Raven stopped and turned to meet his gaze.

    “James, you are his soulmate. You have known him for a while now, and besides Tai, Summer, and I, you are the only one he trusts.”

    “How can you tell-”

    “Because whenever our group hangs out together, he can sit next to you without being prepared to bolt. You can touch his hand or shoulder to get his attention and he doesn’t flinch. And you saved his life. If he’s going to talk to any of us, it will be you.” With that, she turned on her heel and continued down the hallway. James followed silently.

\------------

 

Qrow stared blankly out the window, wondering why he was still alive. There was no reason Raven should have thought to check on him. How did she know?

The door opened behind him. Summer hopped up beside him, clambering on the bed to lay her head on his chest. Raven and Tai sat on the edge, each grabbing a hand and tangling their fingers together. This was how it went the last two times. They would sit in silence, Summer with her arms wrapped around him, until he fell asleep. This would happen until he was released from the hospital and they would put him under careful watch until he got better, and things would be normal for a while. And then, inexplicably, something inside him snapped. It wasn’t always this bad - usually it was smaller, hidden cuts. Sometimes he’d turn to a bottle. A lot of times he got into fights just to feel the adrenaline.

But this time was different. There was someone else, hovering just inside the room. Qrow turned his head to see who it was, and figured out how Raven knew to portal to him. James was standing there with pink wisteria in a line down both arms. Which meant…

“You’re my soulmate.” The entire room almost jumped when he spoke, despite the softness of his voice. James shifted uncomfortably but his eyes remained locked on Qrow. Qrow untangled one hand from Tai and reached out to him. James took his hand and held it tightly, as though afraid if he loosened his grip Qrow might slip through his fingers.

Qrow and Raven shared a look, and she stood, motioning for Tai and Summer to follow. James sat where Raven had been, staring down at their entwined fingers.

“I suppose you know most of what happened to me,” Qrow murmured. “But I think I should tell you anyways.”

\---------

 

By the time the story was over, Qrow was crying, clutching James’ hand so hard he thought he might break it. James had pulled Qrow into his lap and was holding him tightly with his other arm, knowing there wasn’t anything he could say to make it better. Qrow had already tried to apologize, but James replied there was nothing he needed to be sorry for. When Qrow finally fell asleep, Raven came in and helped move him back onto the bed. Raven was staying with him for the night, and the others headed back to Beacon.

As James was changing into his pajamas, he took a moment to look over the flowers dotting his body. A few thin lines of wisteria on his stomach, scars that Qrow said he was going to have completely healed by a doctor with a healing semblance. There weren’t any tansies left. The thick lines of wisteria down both arms. The hand shaped petunias that were already fading. A rose on his temple, with smaller roses on his wrist. And a lily over his heart, that had changed to a pale pink.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, if anything seemed unrealistic, or something should be added/taken out, feel free to leave a comment to help me improve the story


End file.
